Husbands In Labor Two Economists` Interest In Restoring The Balance Of Data On The Working Family Leads To A Profile Of Husbands In The Work Force.

April 12, 1988|Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO -- For two decades, a great deal of attention has been paid to that recent economic phenomenon, ``working wives.``

Meanwhile, the flip side of the coin, ``working husbands,`` has been ignored.

``Working husbands are a major labor market group to which we haven`t devoted a lot of attention recently,`` said Howard V. Hayghe, economist in the division of Labor Force Statistics of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bureau is an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington.

``Because other, more dramatic things have been happening with women and minorities and their surge in labor force participation, I suspect husbands got overlooked,`` he said.

Many women`s advocates say that if working husbands and working fathers were as carefully counted as their female counterparts, such serious problems as parental leave and child care might be more quickly resolved through federal laws.

Hayghe is a working husband; his wife, Michele Tremaine, is an artist. Hayghe also is a working father. The couple has two children, 18 and 15 years old. Since 1972, Hayghe has specialized in women`s labor force and family data.

Interest in the total working family and restoring the ``balance`` of data led Hayghe and Steven E. Haugen, also an economist in the division, to do a profile on husbands in today`s labor market. Their study appeared in a recent issue of the bureau`s publication, Monthly Labor Review.

Historically, high earnings and low unemployment have typified the labor market experience of married men, the report notes. Yet, despite husbands` ``relative labor market advantages,`` their labor force participation rate is much lower today than in the past.

``The decline has been relatively slow,`` Hayghe said. ``In 1955, almost 91 percent of all husbands worked. In 1987, the figure fell to 79 percent.``

Although nothing ``terribly remarkable`` has happened to working husbands, Hayghe points out, they still are considered ``the norm`` when you talk about the labor force because they account for the majority of all men. Three out of five men are husbands.

The largest decline in work force participation, the study found, was among husbands 55 and older.

``The rate began to fall more rapidly in the 1970s, when there were changes in Social Security retirement benefits, private pension plans and disability laws,`` Hayghe said.

There are 39.8 million working husbands in the United States. Of that number, 26 million, or 65 percent, have working wives. Hayghe was asked whether the high number of wives in the labor force made it easier for working husbands to retire early or leave jobs they did not like.

``It`s not had a great impact on the numbers of husbands in the labor force,`` he replied. ``Between 1955 and 1975, the participation rate for younger husbands ages 25 to 34 declined by about 1.5 percentage points, while that for their wives soared by more than 20 points.

``It sounds significant, but it really isn`t when you look at single men who are the same age: Their labor force participation also declined by 1.5 percent.``

And, he added, although husbands are less likely to be working or looking for work today than they were 30 years ago, ``as a group they continue to be the most successful labor market participants.``

The profile of working husbands shows that 23 million have children under 18, or about 58 percent of the total work force.

``The largest number, about 20 percent, are precision craft or repair workers, such as bricklayers, electricians, mechanics and construction workers,`` Hayghe said. ``Another 18 percent are operators, fabricators and laborers; 17 percent are executives, administrators and managers; and 14.1 percent are professional specialty workers such as scientists, engineers, doctors and lawyers.``

Hayghe does not expect working husbands` labor force participation to increase.

``The majority of growth in the labor market between now and the year 2000 will be among women and minorities,`` he said.